Kingdom of Libya
Kingdom of Libya | |
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 Flag
.svg) Coat of arms
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| Motto: إلى الأبد في الازدهار "Forever In Prosperity" | |
| Anthem: "Libya, Libya, Libya" | |
.svg) | |
| Capital | Tripoli |
| Official languages | Arabic |
| Recognised national languages | |
| Ethnic groups | Arab-Berber 97% Others 3% |
| Religion | Islam 99.7% Others 0.3% |
| Demonym(s) | Libyan |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Mohammed |
| Abdur Rahim al-Ghani | |
| Legislature | National Council |
| Senate | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Establishment | |
• Independence | 24 December 1951 |
| Area | |
• | 1,759,541 km2 (679,363 sq mi) (16th) |
| Population | |
• 2022 estimate | 7,054,493 (104th) |
• Density | 3.74/km2 (9.7/sq mi) (218th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $589 billion (44th) |
• Per capita | $83,560 (6th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $297 billion (47th) |
• Per capita | $42,197 (25th) |
| Gini |  35.6medium |
| HDI |  0.868very high (38th) |
| Currency | Libyan dinar (LYD) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +218 |
| ISO 3166 code | LY |
| Internet TLD | .ly |
Libya, officially the Kingdom of Libya, is a country in North Africa. Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, it is also bordered by Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west and northwest respectively. A constitutional monarchy, Libya is historically made up of three regions, namely Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. Geographically, with an area of 679,363 square miles, it is the fourth-largest country on the African continent and the sixteenth-largest in the world. It also has the tenth-largest proven oil reserves in the world, from which the country has derived most of its wealth. Its capital and largest city, Tripoli, is located in the western half of the country and is home to roughly three million of the country's seven million population.
Having been inhabited by the Berbers since the late Bronze Age, parts of Libya have come under the control of various foreign powers, namely the Phoenicians, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and most recently, Italy under Bennito Mussolini from 1934 to 1943. In 1951, following a period of military occupation by Allied forces as a result of the Second World War, Libya gained its independence as a constitutional monarchy under King Idris of the Senussi Order. Since then, driven by its vast oil reserves, Libya has undergone a rapid transformation from a somewhat impoverished country to one of the wealthiest in the world, with its GDP per capita (PPP) being the highest in Africa and the sixth-highest in the world. The country's human development index, while only the thirty-eight-highest in the world, is also the highest in Africa.
As a constitutional monarchy, the king is the head of state, while an elected prime minister serves as the country's head of government, and is chosen through a general election every four years, in which citizens head to the polls to elect members of the country's House of Representatives, the lower chamber that, together with the Senate, makes up Libya's National Council, the country's legislative body.
On the international stage, Libya is a member of various organisations, namely the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, as well as a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union, the Arab League, the OIC, and OPEC. Although a vast 99% of the country's population identifies as Muslims, Libya is officially a secular state, with freedom of religion for non-Muslims being constitutionally guaranteed.